GPhC raises concerns after fitness-to-practise complaints reach record high

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has raised concerns over a 7% increase in the number fitness-to-practise (FtP) complaints brought to the regulator between July 2019 and September 2019.

In council papers published on 5 November 2019, the GPhC said it had received 709 FtP concerns between July 2019 and September 2019. This is compared to 662 concerns received between March 2019 and June 2019.

These figures appear to be a record high for the number of FtP concerns raised with the regulator, after the GPhC had previously said in February 2019 council papers that the three months between October and December 2018 had seen “a record high for concerns received” at 697 complaints.

This figure was amended in later council papers to 702 complaints over the three-month period.

The GPhC subsequently said in its September 2019 council papers — ahead of the publication of the data for July 2019 to September 2019 — that the number of complaints “may be beginning to plateau”.

However, with the number of concerns having increased again to 709 complaints, the GPhC said it “will be paying close attention to see whether this increase is a return to our previous trajectory or a result of high-profile issues increasing public awareness”.

An FtP report published by the GPhC in July 2019 said there has been a 15% year-on-year increase in the number of complaints it has received and is making changes “to better understand possible links between types of concern and increases in number”.